How To Make A Cheese Tart With Tomatoes

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Savory cheese tart recipe, made with a buttery crust and a baked feta and farmer cheese filling. Plus a pretty pop of flavor with freshly sliced tomatoes on top. They’ll easily impress everyone at the table (including yourself) following this guide to making your own mini cheese tartlets.

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Those pretty tarts you see lining the shelf of the bakery. There as easy as pie to make at home.

Actually it’s even easier, because there is no top crust involved.

This version of a cheese tart goes in more of a savory direction. But you can use the same crust recipe for more dessert versions as well.

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Tart Tools

There are a few specific kitchen items that are helpful when making tart crust from scratch.

• a pastry cutter or silverware to cut the butter into the flour
• tart pans with a removable bottom – I used the small round 4.75 inch, which are good for individual servings, but you could also use a larger size to make a single tart.
• a rolling pin to make the dough flat and smooth
• pie weights or dry beans to place inside the tart shell as it cooks

Ingredients

for the tart shell:

• unsalted butter – cubed and chilled in advanced
• flours – both all purpose and white whole wheat
• fine sea salt
• egg – large
• milk – whole or 2%

for the filling and garnish:

• farmer cheese – a fresh and mild white cheese; made from pressing the curd to remove most of the liquid. It’s texture similar to ricotta cheese. Available in the refrigerated dairy section of the supermarket, in a small container or wrapped in plastic. The smaller 7.5 ounce package is enough to make this recipe. But if you purchase a larger quantity, you can turn the leftovers into these strawberry yogurt popsicles.
• eggs – large
• feta cheese – crumbled
• cherry tomatoes – sliced or diced

How to make a cheese tart

There are two important elements to making this recipe.

The first is preparing the tart shells. Which involves making a pastry dough, lining and baking it in a tart pan. This step can be done in advance.

Next up, is adding the filling & toppings. Here’s where the flavor comes in.

Cube butter & prep dry ingredients

Before you begin, make sure the butter is cut into cubes and chilled for 10-15 minutes. Using small pieces of chilled butter, makes it easier to evenly disperse it throughout the dough & contributes to the flakiness of the tart crust.

Measure the flours and salt straight into a bowl.

Mix together the dry ingredients. You can use a whisk or simply use the pastry cutter which you’ll need soon anyways. Why wash an extra utensil?

Cut in method

Add the chilled butter cubes and cut into the flour mixture, until it resembles small pea size pieces.

This can be done easily with a pastry cutter. But if necessary, a fork, set of butter knives, a food processor or even a large whisk can be used instead.

Try not to touch the dough too much with your hands to avoid warming the butter.

Switch to a spoon and stir in the eggs and milk. Once everything is combined, it will resemble a shaggy dough.

Form dough ball and chill

Transfer to a piece of cling wrap. Cover and form into a ball. Press gently to flatten into a disc. Chill for at least an hour or up to overnight in the refrigerator.

How to make tart shells

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and lightly flour your work surface. Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces and form into balls.

Using a rolling pin, roll each pieces into a circle that’s about 1½ inches larger than the tart pans (6 inches for the small 4.75 inch pans used here). Rotate the dough as you roll it, this helps prevent sticking and keeps the dough in a round shape.

Carefully lift the flat dough to transfer to the tart pan. Gently place it into the pan and press the bottom edges in with your fingertips/knuckles, without stretching the dough. Continue pressing all around the fluted edges.

Make sure the dough covers the entire pan. It’s even better if it overhangs. To clean up the edges, roll the rolling pin over the tart shell to cut off the excess dough.

Prick the bottoms with a fork. Cover each tart in tin foil, pressing it as close to the dough as possible. (You should be able to blind bake with the same piece of foil later.) Chill for 1 hour to overnight in the refrigerator or freeze for later use.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven, grab a sheet pan and some pie weights/beans. Fill the cavity of each tart with the weights and bake for 20 minutes.

Prepare the filling while the tart is blind baking (the process of baking a pie crust or other pastry without the filling). In a bowl, mix together the cheeses and eggs.

Carefully remove the tarts from the oven and take off the foil and weights. Divide the filling between the tart pans and return to the oven to finish baking.

That’s it. Your tart is ready to be garnished and served. It can be enjoyed warm or chilled.

Other garnish ideas

• sprinkle on some fresh herbs
• drizzle with hot honey sauce
• give it more of a fall vibe with roasted rainbow carrots or this favorite with vegan butternut squash (cut them into smaller pieces to use as a topping here)
• spread a sweet cranberry applesauce over the top
• pair it with pesto

More tomato recipes

All the flavors of soft, melt in your mouth tomato garlic confit plus a plant based protein with cubed pieces of tempeh. In this oven baked dish.

A summer soup that will turn you into a fan of gazpacho. Salmorejo, a Spanish cold tomato soup recipe, made with a medley of tomatoes, olive oil and bread.

This vegetable packed, tomato tuna salad.

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This post was originally published in 2015 and has been revamped and republished in June 2023.